Icarus
by UltimateParadox
Summary: AU, oneshot. The story of the boy with wings of wax is told in many ways. Others know the story better than some.


**A/N: This...This is a weird story. I was just thinking about the story of Icarus and decided that, since FMA decides to use the story to facilitate a comparison, I can incorporate it into an actual story.**

**Story told like a bedtime story, watch out.**

**THIS IS DANGEROUSLY AU.**

* * *

**Icarus**

Anyone in the country of Amestris could have told you the teachings in Resembool. They told stories that were a lot like folklore, a little like a bedtime story to ward young children from disobedience, and, to them, completely true.

The stories spoke of the mighty sun god Leto, Holy Overseer over the country, holding His hammer of judgment above the citizens' heads. Leto was as the Sun - strong, omnipotent, burning and blinding - until the light disappeared beneath the horizon. It was at this point that the citizens indulged in pleasures at the bay and call of the moon goddess, known only as The Holy Mother, away from Leto's sight and safe from His wrath. When the day broke again, the citizens shielded their eyes from His luminescence, hiding beneath disguises to avoid angering the god. The country did not go to war. The country was not violent, not under the oppressive hand of Leto.

When Edward Elric was nine, he believed in the stories. He and his brother Alphonse were well-behaved and chumly during the daylight hours, listening to their mother, keeping their voices down. It was common knowledge that good, quiet children were easily overlooked by Leto. When night fell they grew excited and expressive until weariness settled in their bones, laughing merrily with their mother by the fire pit and burning a flower in thanks for The Holy Mother's generosity.

When Edward Elric was ten, his world was shaken. The teachings became nothing but stories passed by word of mouth. His family had listened well, taken action according to the teachings, so why? Why was Edward standing on the polished floorboards of the dining room, his mother and brothers' corpses lying cold? Alphonse looked like the sleeping child from the night before, eyes closed and fingers curled even as his skin continued to gray. His mother looked more like a morbid statue, rigid and grasping for a shred of life, hand outstretched, mouth agape in her dying gasp. Her glassy eyes shined in the sunlight pouring through the window.

No one in the tiny town of Resembool could get much out of Edward from that day on. It was hard, really, for the townsfolk to comprehend the magnitude of the incident, knowing only that Leto punished sinners. Poor Edward, they would think as they saw the boy, living amongst the heathens all by his lonesome. Then, they would consider him lucky to have been rescued.

In their reluctant silence, Edward never heard their good tidings. It was probably very fortunate for them. For, you see, Edward did not feel lucky. He saw not a single thing that was _right_ in this situation. His mother and brother had been angels, completely undeserving of Leto's punishment. Edward had been betrayed by his god, left alone as the brightness of the sun abandoned him. Crawling in the dark, ideas cultivated in his brain.

The next time night fell as Leto slept, Edward decided to make an offer to The Holy Mother. He placed a single flower (sunflowers!) in every room of the Elric family home, muttered an obscenity that would cause mothers to blush indignantly, and set the house aflame.

He stayed, from that night on, at the home of his neighbors, a family consisting of an elderly grandmother, Pinako Rockbell, and her granddaughter, Winry, as Leto had claimed the lives of little Winry's parents long before, another death that Edward couldn't comprehend. In the years that passed under the Rockbell roof, Edward, still bitter, grew strong under toiling fieldwork as the other members of the home advanced their prosthetic technology.

They called this technology auto-mail, an extremity made from the strong metal alloys of the mines under the forest ground, supposedly blessed metals from Leto's jurisdiction. Edward wouldn't trust the "holy metals" as far as he could throw them - and being heavy, he couldn't throw them very far - so he let the ladies alone. Then, one day, Edward got an idea.

It was a devious, blasphemous idea.

At thirteen, Edward asked Pinako and Winry to construct two auto-mail prosthetics for him. Dubious, they asked all sorts of questions as to why the boy was so keen on these pieces, as he didn't need them, but all Edward offered was a deal. He would leave for three years and earn enough money for them to build the prosthetics for them, but if they weren't done by his sixteenth year, then they would never see him again. He was not sure of the outcome of his deal, but as soon as the night fell, Edward left the town of Resembool beneath the guiding arm of The Holy Mother.

The years that he was gone from Leto's humble country town were full of mystery. Some say that Edward was building up his strength, on a vigilante's quest. Others say he was making loathsome deals with the fallen angels. Some say he indulged in sins that even The Holy Mother could not ignore or forgive. Whatever they say, the outcome ended the same: at sixteen years, Edward Elric returned to his home in Resembool, strong as an ox and agile as a cat.

Winry and Pinako had been startled from their dinner, watching Leto's sun vanish below the hills, when Edward arrived at the house. They fed and mothered him until he finally managed to ask about the prosthetics.

The women had worked on them diligently, unable to bear losing the boy that had become a member of their torn family, and the metal shined under the lamp when Edward examined them. While unable to fully understand the working process, the auto-mail looked fantastic. Needless to say, Edward was pleased. He asked the ladies to install them.

It took another month of coercing before the Rockbell women agreed.

A year passed and Edward was finally able to use the prosthetics to his full capability. Staring at his reflection in the mirror, the metal wings looked like the wings of a demon. The metal scraped almost noiselessly as he made them stretch and move, pleased that the contraptions were bending to his will. Yes, Edward Elric had asked for wings, powerful enough to carry him as high as he needed to go. He never answered questions about them, only worked the nerves and muscles in his back, preparing to put his plan into action.

The Rockbells fretted until exhaustion overcame them. Edward left the house the moment Leto woke, not even bothering to wake the people who cared for him, not out of ill will, but out of the desire to let them rest. He was sure he would return soon enough, before they even woke to find him gone.

The time was right. The sleepy town would just barely be waking alongside the wrathful god, the only moment of relative obscurity Edward would have to execute his plan. The Holy Mother would not be able to give him cover if he wanted to succeed, and success was his goal. Seeking to control the wings on his back, he pressed off the ground.

The winged boy climbed higher into the sky, enjoying the country like no other had. His stomach had been light with a joy he had never felt before and he took a moment to indulge before he managed to grab Leto's attention. Edward continued his ascent into the skies until he felt Leto's light would blind him. Just as he was beginning to lose hope of getting anywhere, he saw a figure in the shining mass.

The figure was tall, a heavy-built man with a beard so long it seemed to melt into his robe. In his hands a hammer was gripped tightly. The man's eyes glared at Edward before the figure demanded (in a voice so deep and great it made Edward's skeleton rattle in his skin) just what a mortal man was doing, trespassing in a god's domain?

Edward recognized the man as the sun god Leto. All the years of pent up rage and heartache broke something in him and he assaulted the god. No matter how many times he struck Leto, however, the god showed no signs of wear. Finally, Leto's patience seemed to run thin.

Leto explained that stories can circle the world any way they wanted, but life only went in one direction and that no being, god or mortal, could hope to control it. Leto understood exactly why Edward had given himself flight, but He would not stand for the boy's insolence. The god gripped Edward's metal wings and the steel began to glow red, then white, as Leto poured the power of the sun into them. The heat raced along the wings until they met Edward's skin, burning his shoulder blades, blistering and bursting. Edward screamed, struggling against the god's impossible grip.

Leto was relentless and Edward heard the god speaking, preaching of punishment and sacrifice - of equivalency. The metal in the wings began to melt until the metallic substance pulled free from Edward's body. He plummeted back down to earth. When he touched down to the ground, he didn't know. Consciousness had left before he had the chance.

Edward was surprised he woke again. There was a hand brushing against his brow and he opened his eyes to see a woman whom he had never seen before, dark of skin and hair, dressed in chaste white robes. She smiled fondly and sadly at him.

She explained to him that Leto had been merciful and left him to her, to roam the nights alongside her until the end of eternity. Edward realized that he had been saved by The Holy Mother herself. She granted him a new name, Icarus, and bade him cut ties with everything he knew.

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The little boy tugged at the teenager's pant leg. "That wasn't a good story at all, mister! Edward went through a whole lot, why couldn't he get a break? Did you come up with that story?"

The teenager chuckled, settling a hand on the boy's head. "Now, Alfons, was it? You asked me to wait here while you waited for your mother, because you're scared of walking home alone in the dark, right? And then you asked for a story, so I gave you one. It's a true story, you know."

The boy pouted. "It is not. Leto and The Holy Mother are just old religious tales that came from 'round here, Mama said so. Otherwise, we'd all be dead! Papa said that part."

The teenager smirked. "Who knows? Maybe their new friend Icarus convinced Leto to be a little more lenient?"

"You're stupid."

The teenager laughed. A woman came up to them, to whom Alfons shouted, "Mama, you're back! Meet Mister, he kept me company!"

The mother smiled at the teenager, thanked him, said farewell for both herself and her son, and left the teenager alone on the train station bench. The teenager didn't seem to mind, started staring at the moths flying about the streetlights. Finally, a train whistle pierced the night, causing the teen to smile wistfully.

The train rolled in and a woman in white robes stepped off. "I see you waited for me, Icarus. How is your back? Do your scars hurt?"


End file.
